


Day 7: Free Day

by GemmaRose



Series: Ratchet Week [7]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Gen, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:28:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24605449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: There are many things Ratchet loves about the world which is forbidden to them. Stars just happen to be the easiest to share with his students.
Relationships: Ambulon & First Aid & Ratchet (Transformers)
Series: Ratchet Week [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758271
Comments: 2
Kudos: 18





	Day 7: Free Day

**Author's Note:**

> had this been posted on schedule, it would've come out just in time for the end of mermay, whoops.

Ratchet had never been good at following arbitrary rules. Rules about how to do medicine, how to make sure you were hunting sustainably, how to find your way in the open ocean, those were all fine and dandy, nice shell-solid rules for definable purposes. But rules about who and how to court, how to address elders, who not to interact with... those ones he ignored as often as he could get away with. Or told others to ignore with him, in the case of addressing elders. He was one of the oldest in their pod now, only spared being the Prime by virtue of already being a medic.

He breached the surface, breathing deeply, and looked up at the stars above as his current pupils surfaced at his sides. Ambulon gasped, and First Aid let out a quiet chirp of delight, both their eyes wide with wonder. “This is why I love the surface.” he told them, flicking his tail to lie on his back, staring up at the clear sky overhead. Well, one of the reasons, but they didn’t need to know _everything_ about him in order to open their minds. And also hopefully trust him a bit more, Ambulon in particular.

“It’s beautiful.” First Aid breathed, shutting his nictating membrane so he wouldn’t have to blink as he stared at the sky. “Is it always like this?”

“Of course not.” Ambulon scoffed, crossing his arms and sinking until his lips were barely above water. “It’s usually so bright you’re a fin’s breadth from drying out, or storming so bad-” he cut off abruptly, sinking until only his eyes were above the waves, and Ratchet sighed.

“The weather up here can be volatile, yes, but the stars are beyond that.” Ratchet assured Ambulon, lifting an arm to gesture at them. “They’re out in space, so high up and far away it would take even more than the lifetime of one of the Great Elders to reach the very nearest, if we could swim out to them.”

“Wooowww.” First Aid beamed, stars reflecting in his dark eyes as he drifted over to latch onto Ambulon’s arm. “And you won’t tell anyone if we come up here?”

“I’d be a hypocrite if I did.” Ratchet snorted, folding his arms behind his head. “Next time we migrate north, I’ll show you the aurora.”

“Aurora?” First Aid asked, shaking Ambulon’s arm excitedly. It was a testament to how well he’d adjusted that Ambulon didn’t even try to push First Aid away.

“A ribbon of light in the sky. It’s beautiful.”

“Better than stars?”

“I’ll let you be the judge of that.” Ratchet grinned, keeping his eyes on the sky above, picking out constellations, recalling the rocky shore he’d sat on when learning them. The warm body pressed against his side, scratchy human fabric draped warm around both of them.

“How come you know all this stuff?” Ambulon asked, a petulant scowl on his face.

“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you pick things up.” Ratchet shrugged. Ambulon had suffered too badly at human hands to accept that not all of them were monsters, at least right now. In a decade or two, with sufficient encouragement and reassurance, perhaps conditional trust could be established, but for now Ratchet would let the matter lie. First Aid was different though, raised sheltered in their pod, bright-eyed and empathetic and curious. And, Ratchet now knew, not particularly adverse to breaking the rules if nobody was getting hurt.

“What other sorts of stuff do you know?” First Aid asked eagerly, finally looking down from the sky.

“Oh, plenty.” Ratchet laughed, twisting vertical again. “Including the fact that unless we get back to the pod soon, someone will notice we’re missing.”

“Finally.” Ambulon huffed. First Aid whined, pouting shamelessly.

“But we just got up here!”

“I’ll bring you back up again next week.” Ratchet promised, and First Aid released Ambulon’s bicep to dart over and wrap his arms around Ratchet’s chest instead.

“Thank you!”

“No problem, kid.” he chuckled, patting First Aid on the back. “Now come on, let’s get our fins home. You two still have an early shift tomorrow.”

Both of them groaned, and Ratchet smiled as he dove below the waves. It wouldn’t be long before they headed north, back to the pebbled shore where he’d broken the cardinal law of their species. Where he was planning to make a traitor of First Aid too, come summer. He had a feeling First Aid wouldn’t exactly mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies to any not-logged-in readers, but due to an ex who refuses to leave me alone I have had to disable anon comments. Kudos are still open though, and if you want to scream (or would like me to write a fic for you) come check me out on Pillowfort! No account required to get my discord, and I'm always happy to chat. [[Link](https://www.pillowfort.social/GemmaRose)]


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